Miso Soup

I love miso soup. It is easy to make once you have all the ingredients and just as good as that served in Japanese restaurants.

First, you need dashi. To make this, follow the instructions in my last post - 'Japanese Noodle Soup' - or, if you already made a batch for the soup, save the strained ingredients, add them to 1 qt of water and bring to a simmer for 20 minutes. If you have any more bonito flakes, add up to about 1/3 oz, remove from the heat ands allow to stand 1 minute (if not, skip this step), then strain.

Put 2-3 tbsp miso in a small bowl and whisk in a little warm dashi to make a paste. Make sure the dashi is off the heat (it should be hot but not boiling) and stir the miso paste into the dashi. Add garnishes if desired - I like tofu cubes, wakame seaweed (follow instructions on package to rehydrate) and sliced scallions - and serve.

This should yield 2 good-sized servings of soup.

Note 1 - Instant dashi granules can be purchased instead of making it. These are not as good but are more convenient.

Note 2 - The ingredients for miso soup can be found at a well-stocked Asian market or higher-end supermarket.

Note 3 - Metric info: 1 qt = about 1 litre; 1/3 oz = 10g.

Japanese Noodle Soup (Ramen)

I have been craving ramen noodles ever since reading Momofuku (David Chang and Peter Meehan) just after Christmas. I ate them at Asiana Noodle Shop in Burlington, VT, a week ago, and wanted to try making them myself. My version deviates from David Chang's, but is simpler and uses only some of the same ingredients. Much as I love pig in its many incarnations, I was craving seafood, so that was my basis for my soup.
The soup can be split into 4 parts - broth, noodles, protein and garnish. The broth is the hardest part, but only because the ingredients are a little difficult to find. I made a Japanese sea stock ('dashi'), but you could substitute a shellfish stock or even a chicken stock if you wish (preferably homemade).

Dashi (broth)
Put 5 cups of water into a saucepan. Add 1 oz of kombu seaweed (this comes in thick sheets) and bring slowly to a boil over medium-low heat. I also added a few dried shiitake mushrooms and a few thin slices of fresh ginger, but these ingredients are not essential. Once your stock is boiling, add about 1/2 oz bonito flakes (dried fish, otherwise known as katsuobushi), remove from the heat and allow to stand for 1 minute. Strain the stock through cheesecloth or a fine sieve. Keep the fish flakes and seaweed for miso soup (see my 'miso soup' post). Season your broth with a little soy sauce, mirin and (if necessary) salt. This should be enough broth for 2-3 servings.

Noodles
I couldn't find packages of just ramen noodles, so I bought an instant ramen package (making sure first that the seasoning was in a separate packet) and used just the noodles, following the instructions on the side - boil for 3 minutes.

Protein
This is really up to you. You could go vegetarian and use tofu. You could use meat, seafood or a mix. I used shrimp (which I poached gently in the broth until cooked through), salmon (cut into small pieces and poached in the broth until cooked through), mussels (steamed in a little water until they open - I chose to remove them from their shells), scallops (seared in a very hot pan until a crust formed, then flipped and cooked for a very short while on the second side) and squid (sliced as for calamari then poached in broth for about 1 minute).

Garnish
I used a hard cooked egg (I cooked mine just short of hard - cover with cold water, bring to a boil, remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 12 minutes, then cool in cold water. Remove the shell and cut in half). I also used some bean sprouts, hijiki seaweed (dried - soak in cold water 30 minutes; drain) and sliced scallions.

Assembly
Put noodles in heated bowls. Add cooked seafood to warm broth to heat through. Divide between bowls, pouring broth over the noodles. Sprinkle garnish over the top. Serve.

Variations
Besides varying the protein ingredients and garnishes, you could use a different broth, or turn your dashi into a miso broth (follow instructions in my next post - 'miso soup') - if you do this, do it before seasoning the broth, as miso is salty. You could also use different noodles. I tried rice noodles (soak in boiling water 15 minutes; drain) and udon noodles (boil in unsalted water until tender). The following pictures show two other soups, both with a miso broth, one with rice noodles, the other with udon noodles.



Note 1 - Kombu, bonito flakes and hijiki can be found in a well-stocked Asian market or high-end supermarket.

Note 2 - If hijiki cannot be found, you can use wakame or nori seaweed in its place.

Note 3 - You can buy instant dashi granules if you wish (although it is better when you make it yourself). Just follow the instructions on the packet.

Note 4 - Metric info: 5 cups = 1.2 litres; 1 oz = 28g.